Life on the High Plains

A couple weeks ago we made a trip to New York to visit our daughter.  We flew into Buffalo and you can't go to Buffalo without a trip to Niagara Falls. It was stunning, majestic, wondrous, amazingly beautiful and every other awe-inspiring adjective you can come up with. The only place I'd ever been to in New York before this trip was the City.  I can't even tell you what a pleasant surprise it was to see other parts of the state.  I loved it, especially with all the Fall colors.  I think it would be a really nice place to live (at least until the snow starts flying). Happy Skywatch Friday!

I got something new at work today...something that will hopefully help with my back pain. A standing desk that can be raised or lowered so that I can spend less time on my rear end compressing those vertebrae and more time standing.  I'm really lucky to have a company that is willing to invest in the tools I need to be more comfortable at work. It raises and lowers really easy and accommodates my triple monitors.  The company that made it even has an app for the smartphone with a timer to remind me when it's time to stand (15 minutes every hour). Now if it only had a treadmill that I could walk on while standing then I could get thousands of extra steps per day.  Oh well, working in IT is pretty good for getting steps, I'm on the go all the time.  In fact it's only 10:30 a.m. and I have 8K steps already.  The time I spend sitting in my job is usually writing or updating policies and procedures and I try to avoid that as often as possible. Now the pr...

Yes, I know.  I am a blogging slacker.  Two plus weeks since my last blog. Lots of things have happened since then, I've lived in a hotel more than at home.  New York, Denver, Wichita.  So which story to tell first? The Rock and Roll 10K from last week! (Only because I can get to those pictures quickly.)   Mary and I decided to leave the boys behind (Irv was actually working, we weren't being mean.).  This meant a hassle, pout-free visit to Ikea.  It was wonderful being able to slowly walk the aisles and look at all the "stuff".  We didn't buy much, Mary was happiest about her rolling big plastic tub.  We have to get all our glassware from the truck to our display booth at the craft fairs so wheels is a great idea.     After shopping we headed over to one of my favorite Mexican restaurants--the Rio.  We loaded up on carbs and had a great dinner.  Then it was back to the hotel and in bed by 8:30....

It's that time of year again.  Football season.  The Family Fantasy Football League is still going after all these years. Two years ago I won the family trophy.  This year I tried to quit.  However, there has to be an even number of teams.  Guess what?  Only 9 teams at draft time so guess who gets to play for another year. Fantasy football is an incredible amount of work.  You have to make sure all your players are healthy and that they aren't on a bye.  Then you have to put the right players in to get the maximum amount of points.  I've had a couple really good weeks of over 100 points, but here's the standings. Not looking good. This week I'm playing Brian.  Right now he has an unfilled spot on his team--his defense is on a bye.  My best hope is that he's too busy in Korea to get his roster filled.  (Fingers crossed) The only good thing is that last week I was ninth, now I'm eighth.  Oh yes, the other reall...

 We had some very dramatic skies this week accompanied by some ferocious thunder and lightning.   As long as it's not snow, I'm good with it.   Do you enjoy watching the clouds as much as I do? I think they're quite amazing especially out here on the high plains of Colorado where you can see for miles and miles.   My mom and oldest daughter (aka Precious) used to sit and watch the clouds and discuss which cloud they were going to sit on when they went to heaven.  I miss my mom so much!  I think she probably chose a happy, fluffy, white cloud and not these angry storm clouds.   Happy Skywatch Friday!

Mary texted me this morning to tell me that Mr. Beans had a band concert tonight. I have to be honest.  For the past 4 or 5 years I have dreaded these concerts.  Every band has to perform and then the choir performs and you have to sit through the whole thing.  Typically it has taken hours and the worst part is that the parents in the audience talk throughout the whole thing so you really can't hear anything. But as the dutiful grandparents we have always gone and supported our favorite grandson. I must tell you tonight was a totally different experience.  I think it all starts with the band teacher.  His teacher this year is full of passion for the kids and music and it shows in their behavior and in their performance. It was a true joy to hear!  I cannot wait until the next concert.  What a difference between middle school and high school.  Wow!  They are actually musicians now! Enjoy the Mitchell High School Concert Band!

Have you ever had an experience in your life that seems surreal? Mary and I had that experience yesterday.  She called me early in the morning and asked me if I wanted to go on a walk.  Of course I did!  I suggested my favorite hike at the Garden of the Gods. When we got there I suggested we extend our hike by going on one of my favorite trails that had been closed all summer because of some flood damage.  I hate to admit this, but the trail was fenced off, but we could see the trail so I convinced Mary that it was okay to climb through the fence and across the dry creek bed to get to the trail. We were walking along the trail and I mentioned this would be a perfect place for a bear to hang out because there weren't many people.  Then we talked about the stupid people that have bear encounters and those that go off trail and are never found.  After a while we passed a group of people going in the opposite direction and not long after them there was an...

I learned last night that I will never be able to build a house from the beginning.  Too many choices. If you read my blog then you know how I feel about keeping a house updated.  Earlier this year we painted the majority of the inside of our house.  Now it's time to update the shower in the master bath.  Right now it's just plain white...boring!  I found a great deal on Angie's List last week to have it tiled.  The guy came over and measured a couple days ago and last night we had to go pick out the tile. Oh my goodness, I'm not good with too many choices. Here's the palette we ended up with. I know, various shades of boring brown.  It was a hard choice because I didn't want anything that would limit decor to a particular color, and I didn't want anything too trendy.  I had really wanted to do a river rock floor, but at the last minute I changed my mind and decided to go with something more traditional (the small squares).  I t...